Hi everyone,
I just wanted to check in with you and let you know what we have been up to this last week. I forgot to mention that we are traveling through out the state of Washington on a "meet and greet tour". We have lots of dear family and friends across the whole state, and so we decided to hit the road to introduce them all to our precious Dylan!
Most of these people would have made a trek across the mountains to come to us over the next few weeks and months, but I decided that I wanted us to go to them! I have had a bad case of cabin fever with a huge travel bug on top of it so I was eager to get out and about.
Our stops include: Kennewick, Yakima, Wenatchee, Seattle, Ballard, and Snohomish and then back home again.
So, having said all of that - I may be off the blog for a few more days. I do have partial posts already written though so maybe I will find the time to finish them and post them.
I hope all of you are well!
Ashley
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Stay Tuned
Hi Everyone,
Just wanted to let you all know that I really do have a last encounter with Dr. Sunshine to tell you about as well as Dylan's birth story. I have started writing both of them, but I'm having a hard time completing them.
I think that I have been putting them off because I know that I will probably close down "Bedrest Boutique" shortly after I post them (I won't actually close it down, but I will stop posting to it).
Gosh! I just got teary-eyed writing that.
Sappy. Sappy. Sappy. That's me!
This blog has been such a huge part of my life these last few months, I will be sad to see it go. I do plan on starting another blog, just not sure of its focus. I will keep you posted.
Happy Wednesday to you all!
Just wanted to let you all know that I really do have a last encounter with Dr. Sunshine to tell you about as well as Dylan's birth story. I have started writing both of them, but I'm having a hard time completing them.
I think that I have been putting them off because I know that I will probably close down "Bedrest Boutique" shortly after I post them (I won't actually close it down, but I will stop posting to it).
Gosh! I just got teary-eyed writing that.
Sappy. Sappy. Sappy. That's me!
This blog has been such a huge part of my life these last few months, I will be sad to see it go. I do plan on starting another blog, just not sure of its focus. I will keep you posted.
Happy Wednesday to you all!
Monday, June 18, 2007
Saturday, June 16, 2007
It's a Girl's Name, Too
[Warning: This entry contains spoilers. If you haven't seen Children of Men yet and you're bothered by spoilers, go out and rent it and watch it before reading this or watching the clip below, which is the final scene of the movie.]
A few weeks ago, we watched a lovely, provocative movie called Children of Men. The movie depicts a time in the near future when the entire human population has inexplicably become infertile. Society has been pitched into despair-laden chaos as a result.
"I can't really remember when I last had any hope, and I certainly can't remember when anyone else did either," the main character, Theo, says. "Because really, since women stopped being able to have babies, what's left to hope for?"
"As the sound of the playgrounds faded, the despair set in," says another character. "Very odd, what happens in a world without children's voices."
A woman named Kee, however, is pregnant. "Your baby is the miracle the whole world has been waiting for," someone says.
So you can see how we might draw some parallels between the message of this movie and our own experience holding out hope for Dylan to make it to term these past few weeks and months.
In the movie it is revealed that Theo had had a son named Dylan who had died in early childhood many years prior. When Kee (with Theo's help) gives birth to a healthy baby girl in the middle of a bombed-out apocalyptic ruins, bullets whizzing all around, she jokes about naming her Bazooka.
But then, in the final scene of the movie, Kee declares: "Dylan. I'll call my baby Dylan. It's a girl's name, too."
That's when Ashley said, "I love Dylan as a girl's name."
In case you were wondering.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Confession
I have a confession to make to all of you! I have been holding out on sharing some information regarding this new phase of our two-child family status. I think part of the problem is that I am still processing it myself. I am hoping that by disclosing this information through out all of cyberspace that I may come to terms with it. There will be no more denying it because it will be "out there".
I have had extensive conversations with many, many girlfriends over the years about how I would never, NEVER do what Jonathan and I did. I have had a strong conviction for a couple of decades that *this thing that we did* was not an option for us. As we were in the process, I turned to Jonathan and asked him, "What is it going to say about me that I have held this conviction for so, so long and within twenty minutes I am being persuaded to go against what I felt so strongly about?" I just can't believe that we went through with it. I am in complete and utter shock, not to mention major denial.
Jonathan and I bought a minivan.
There.
I said it.
Oh my gosh, I said it.
I think I need to go to some sort of group - the opposite of a 12 step. I need practice saying, "Hi, my name is Ashley. I own a minivan."
(It took everything in my power to type that out and not delete it!)
Now don't get me wrong. I don't want to offend any minivan owners out there. There is no denying that they have come a long, long way over the years. And as far as function, convenience, and kid carrying luxury - they are the way to go. However, I am still having a hard time accepting that this is the phase that we have entered into. I can't wait for the PTA, soccer mom days to come, I just didn't want the minivan stigma to go along with it. And now here I am with the minivan stigma, 3 years earlier than PTA mommy status!
If you are wondering how this came all about then keep on reading! It all started out because I had been researching 7-passenger SUVs for us to upgrade to. We have company in town all the time and oftentimes it is just my mom or just my sister. This means we need one more seat in order for them to ride around with us. It would be ridiculous to drive two cars around for a weekend.
Jonathan has always been anti-SUV but I have always wanted one. I wanted one of the smaller ones though, and recently I discovered that Toyota had added a back row to their Highlander and RAV4 (we are devout Toyota drivers and wanted to stay with them if we could!). So I talked Jonathan into going to the lot with me to "just look". This is all I could convince him to do. As a matter of fact, on the way there, he made it clear to me that he didn't want to talk to a salesperson and he absolutely did not want to "talk numbers".
When we approached the lot, we were immediately greeted by a friendly salesperson. (A friendly, young, hip salesman that holds the record for most minivans sold in a year!) I think they must have all been standing around, saw us coming, pushing our baby stroller, and then had him pounce on us! With a little bit of minivan "convenience" mumbo-jumbo we were a "sure sell".
We started out looking at the Highlander and the RAV4. However, it never dawned on me that in order to get to the back seat you would have to lift the middle seat up. This means the car seats would have to be taken out each time someone would get in or out of the back seat or we would have to put the car seats in the back seat which is just too far away to meet their immediate needs. The inside also felt very cramped, and it would probably be only a matter of minutes before a claustrophobic attack would take place. (My husband, my sister and my mom are all claustrophobic). So, it wasn't long before I realized that these models were not functional and I was still holding fast to my conviction of not wanting to go any bigger in size and smaller in gas mileage, etc.
So, this meant the only option was a test drive of the minivan. Jonathan's whole demeanor changed at this point. He got very enthusiastic about the car buying process. And I on the other hand could not believe I was even considering peering into one much less driving one. I think I ducked down and tried to hide as I was getting into on the off chance that someone I knew would drive by and see me.
Well, the rest is pretty much history. The drive was super smooth, super quiet, and felt super functional. Maybe I was persuaded because it was such a smooth ride and this was the first time I had driven a car since January! The freedom of driving on an open freeway at accelerated speeds was quite refreshing. It probably wouldn't have mattered what I was driving - I would have enjoyed it no matter what!
Needless to say, as we returned the car to the lot, I peaked into the the more luxurious models. Leather interior, sun roof, wood grain paneling, 6 CD changer, DVD player, all-wheel drive, built-in Ipod plug in, dual heating/air control, bun warmers, etc, etc, etc. I quickly decided that IF I was going to be persuaded into making such a life-altering purchase that I was going to do it in style.
So there you have it.
"My name is Ashley. And I am a resigned, reluctant owner of a luxurious (yet functional) minivan".
I'll have to work on saying it without the "resigned", and "reluctant" modifiers, but for now it is where I stand. I am coming out of denial.
I have had extensive conversations with many, many girlfriends over the years about how I would never, NEVER do what Jonathan and I did. I have had a strong conviction for a couple of decades that *this thing that we did* was not an option for us. As we were in the process, I turned to Jonathan and asked him, "What is it going to say about me that I have held this conviction for so, so long and within twenty minutes I am being persuaded to go against what I felt so strongly about?" I just can't believe that we went through with it. I am in complete and utter shock, not to mention major denial.
Jonathan and I bought a minivan.
There.
I said it.
Oh my gosh, I said it.
I think I need to go to some sort of group - the opposite of a 12 step. I need practice saying, "Hi, my name is Ashley. I own a minivan."
(It took everything in my power to type that out and not delete it!)
Now don't get me wrong. I don't want to offend any minivan owners out there. There is no denying that they have come a long, long way over the years. And as far as function, convenience, and kid carrying luxury - they are the way to go. However, I am still having a hard time accepting that this is the phase that we have entered into. I can't wait for the PTA, soccer mom days to come, I just didn't want the minivan stigma to go along with it. And now here I am with the minivan stigma, 3 years earlier than PTA mommy status!
If you are wondering how this came all about then keep on reading! It all started out because I had been researching 7-passenger SUVs for us to upgrade to. We have company in town all the time and oftentimes it is just my mom or just my sister. This means we need one more seat in order for them to ride around with us. It would be ridiculous to drive two cars around for a weekend.
Jonathan has always been anti-SUV but I have always wanted one. I wanted one of the smaller ones though, and recently I discovered that Toyota had added a back row to their Highlander and RAV4 (we are devout Toyota drivers and wanted to stay with them if we could!). So I talked Jonathan into going to the lot with me to "just look". This is all I could convince him to do. As a matter of fact, on the way there, he made it clear to me that he didn't want to talk to a salesperson and he absolutely did not want to "talk numbers".
When we approached the lot, we were immediately greeted by a friendly salesperson. (A friendly, young, hip salesman that holds the record for most minivans sold in a year!) I think they must have all been standing around, saw us coming, pushing our baby stroller, and then had him pounce on us! With a little bit of minivan "convenience" mumbo-jumbo we were a "sure sell".
We started out looking at the Highlander and the RAV4. However, it never dawned on me that in order to get to the back seat you would have to lift the middle seat up. This means the car seats would have to be taken out each time someone would get in or out of the back seat or we would have to put the car seats in the back seat which is just too far away to meet their immediate needs. The inside also felt very cramped, and it would probably be only a matter of minutes before a claustrophobic attack would take place. (My husband, my sister and my mom are all claustrophobic). So, it wasn't long before I realized that these models were not functional and I was still holding fast to my conviction of not wanting to go any bigger in size and smaller in gas mileage, etc.
So, this meant the only option was a test drive of the minivan. Jonathan's whole demeanor changed at this point. He got very enthusiastic about the car buying process. And I on the other hand could not believe I was even considering peering into one much less driving one. I think I ducked down and tried to hide as I was getting into on the off chance that someone I knew would drive by and see me.
Well, the rest is pretty much history. The drive was super smooth, super quiet, and felt super functional. Maybe I was persuaded because it was such a smooth ride and this was the first time I had driven a car since January! The freedom of driving on an open freeway at accelerated speeds was quite refreshing. It probably wouldn't have mattered what I was driving - I would have enjoyed it no matter what!
Needless to say, as we returned the car to the lot, I peaked into the the more luxurious models. Leather interior, sun roof, wood grain paneling, 6 CD changer, DVD player, all-wheel drive, built-in Ipod plug in, dual heating/air control, bun warmers, etc, etc, etc. I quickly decided that IF I was going to be persuaded into making such a life-altering purchase that I was going to do it in style.
So there you have it.
"My name is Ashley. And I am a resigned, reluctant owner of a luxurious (yet functional) minivan".
I'll have to work on saying it without the "resigned", and "reluctant" modifiers, but for now it is where I stand. I am coming out of denial.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Friday, June 8, 2007
Friday's Picture of the Day
Hi everyone! We are in a state of new baby bliss at our house, and it has definitely taken a toll on our computer time. Hope you can understand! I do plan on posting a birth story, a last encounter with Dr. Sunshine, a few more photos, and some last bedrest boutique reflections. So, stay tuned.
Much love from the Potter household!
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Big Sister
The twinkle in Holland's eye when she is referred to as "big sister" brightens the whole room! She is such a proud big sister. She has adjusted quite well to having a new member to our family, and has been delightful to watch.
When Jonathan and I brought Holland home from the hospital, it was an amazing experience to share. Now that we have brought Dylan home we are sharing the miraculous journey once again, but this time there is a more profound sweet richness because we get to vicariously experience the newness and wonder of a new and much-anticipated baby sister in the life of a three-year-old ("I'm three and a half, Mommy") big sister.
Monday, June 4, 2007
Sunday, June 3, 2007
The Girl Formerly Known as Hershey
Dylan Grace .... born at 1:24 AM, June 3, 2007; 5 lbs. 12 oz; 19 inches.
The birth of a child is a joyous and solemn occasion in the life of a family. We, Ashley and Jonathan, bid you therefore to join us in giving thanks to Almighty God our heavenly Father, the Lord of all life, for the gift of Dylan Grace to be our daughter and with Holland Olivia for a new sister. Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow!
Sunday's Child
Ashley's water broke a few hours ago, just a little before ten o'clock, Saturday night. Now we are in the very wee hours of Sunday morning and everything is progressing as it should. We're back at our old home away from home, getting increasingly expectant by the minute.
Yes, we are actually blogging from the delivery room.
It looks like June 3 is the newly revised due date. Stay tuned.
So much for bed rest!
Yes, we are actually blogging from the delivery room.
It looks like June 3 is the newly revised due date. Stay tuned.
So much for bed rest!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
